Regional chamber of commerce seeks to launch MEP

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After the blowup of Connecticut’s attempt to launch a state retirement plan for employees of small businesses that lack one, the Chamber of Commerce in Southington is taking on the task for its own corner of the state by taking advantage of a Department of Labor rule change that lets it wade into the realm of association retirement plans.

According to a report in the Hartford Business Journal, the plan that is being offered by the Southington Chamber—which says it’s the first chamber in New England to do so—will be run by Northshire Consulting and is the result of a rule change last September by DOL that allows chambers of commerce to offer a plan to businesses that are unrelated except by locale, rather than having to belong to the same industry or share some other commonality.